POTD- PROJECT OF THE DAY: What Did You Make In Your Shop Today?

As usual. I made a mess... ...then cleaned it up.

Few more little parts for the crane. These shouldn't have taken this long to make as they did. First step was to predrill a hole to be bored out. Closest thing I could find was a milwaukee hole saw at the hardware store. Wasn't sure how this was going to go. This is some pretty hateful plate to work with. But the drill is carbide toothed. It cut OK. Made it through all 8 plates, running about 50 RPM. Some carbide is chipped/busted, but it got the job done.
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Then had to wait for the cheap boring bar set to arrive. It was only $20, and almost wasn't worth that. It saved having to make one from scratch, but had a horrible grind. Luckily the diamond wheel was on the surface grinder, and once that was done it cut pretty well. This little mill drill isn't very stout, so light cuts to finish to size.
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They fit the shafts they're supposed to fit, with a couple tenths clearance. The bore size was spot on. It was a bit tricky to dial the boring head and deal with tool deflection to get it that tight, but it worked out. Maybe I'll feel like doing some assembling and welding after dinner.
$20 .. another Chinese kit, you just had to sharpen them.

The job looks good.
 
The clips were indeed compatible with the rails and I'm quite satisfied with the result. Once again, thanks @ChazzC for the tip!

The clips held my PB Swiss PB 100 screwdrivers effortlessly from size 1 (5/32" shaft) through 9 (1/2" shaft). However, I still need to figure out how to get the sizes 00 and 0 to stay on the rail. Maybe I'll just apply some shrink wrap on the shafts on these :encourage:
@ChazzC problem solved!

A 1/2” socket holder clip makes a great screwdriver holder if you remove the ball spring mechanism inside and drill a hole through the clip :grin:

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A lot of work getting to this point. It was a bit of a fight pushing the shaft with squares welded onto it into the tube. I didn't want any slop there. It was a 'hammer press fit'. It was the only way I could think of getting the shaft aligned with the square tube with any certainty. If a massive lathe would have been available, it would have been easy enough to just weld the shaft in, and turn it. With the little machines here, that wasn't an option.
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Yes, the driveshaft is square tube. This is for a reason, that will be apparent, if I ever get the parts made... lol.
 
A lot of work getting to this point. It was a bit of a fight pushing the shaft with squares welded onto it into the tube. I didn't want any slop there. It was a 'hammer press fit'. It was the only way I could think of getting the shaft aligned with the square tube with any certainty. If a massive lathe would have been available, it would have been easy enough to just weld the shaft in, and turn it. With the little machines here, that wasn't an option.
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Yes, the driveshaft is square tube. This is for a reason, that will be apparent, if I ever get the parts made... lol.
Nice looking welds on that endcap.Did you pin the shaft to the square? I probably would have drilled a hole in the square and welded the shaft to the square then finished filling it.
 
Nice looking welds on that endcap.Did you pin the shaft to the square? I probably would have drilled a hole in the square and welded the shaft to the square then finished filling it.
Squares are welded to the shaft on the 'inside', between the squares. Clamped the shaft down on the table, so the squares were aligned, and hit them with a few beads. Just some hot and ugly MIG welds. Used TIG on the visible welds on the end. It isn't going anywhere.

Might drill some holes for a couple plug welds on the inner square. Probably will, just in case it ever wanted to try move.
 
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